And Corey, and Boyd — what are you boys doing using language like that around Amanda?

Seriously, folks… This is not only grossly inappropriate language to be used when referring to the governor of our state, it’s not an appropriate topic, even if you used euphemisms.

And why am I writing about it? Well, I wouldn’t have if this had come from one of the usual sources for such. But this was said (apparently on the record) by a state representative, repeated by a representative of the Fourth Estate, and picked up by a party official.

And that’s wrong, on all counts. Daniel Patrick Moynihan had a term for it, or at least one that can be adapted to this purpose: Defining deviancy down.

Offensive language has been an easy identifier of self-styled, male activists with a certain political mindset since at least the early 60s.

Few of those foul-mouthed activists in my acquaintance ever went on to professional careers.

H. Boyd Brown (D) makes my non-professional generalization at least half correct. If my House member participated in offensively suggestive language like Mr. Brown’s, not only would he hear about it, he might have a challenger in the next election.

FYI, total disclosure here… originally, this post started as being totally tongue-in-cheek. It ended with the graf that begins, “And Corey, and Boyd…” (The headline was something like, “Don’t talk like that in front of Amanda!”)

But then, before I saved it, I got to thinking… this is about the governor of our state. Even though I don’t want her to be our governor, that’s what she is. And everybody thinks I hate her already (which I don’t). So I felt like I should point out the obvious, which is that this is not an appropriate way to refer to the governor.

Yeah, it was a semi-clever pun on the grading thing. But it makes a crude reference to salacious tales about this woman, and that’s wrong.

Forbes published (10/03/2011) featuring a chart summarizing Microsoft’s famous survey of 300 hiring execs: “Have you ever rejected a candidate because of what you saw about them on a social networking site?”

Posting inappropriate comments and demonstrating poor communication skills accounted for over 20% of rejected candidates. Remarks about a work colleague, assuming Brown thinks he is Haley’s, accounted for an added rejection criterion.

Contrary to someone wrote above, Rick Perry’s book is actually titled “Fed Up”. Apparently certain people like to mislead others and then claim to have been joking or to have misunderstood the U.S. Senate’s question.

When one uses carefully selected words of several syllables, one finds that certain fellow commentators become rather agitated, so much so that they cannot recall that Google provides a handy lexicon right at their fingertips. Perhaps one should indeed select more Anglo-Saxon words of one syllable?

Refraining from offensive language in public isn’t putting on an act. It’s respectful. Like not wearing your speedo on the beach, not belching in the middle of a crowded restaurant and not going to the grocery store in your bathrobe and pink curlers. Many people object to crude language, so it’s just good manners not to use it in their hearing. And keep offa my lawn too.

adj. crud·er, crud·est
1. Being in an unrefined or natural state; raw.
2. Lacking tact or taste; blunt or offensive: a crude, mannerless oaf; a crude remark.
3. Characterized by uncultured simplicity; lacking in sophistication or subtlety: had only a crude notion of how a computer works.
4. Not carefully or skillfully made; rough: a quick, crude sketch.
5. Undisguised or unadorned; plain: must face the crude truth.
6. Statistics In an unanalyzed form; not adjusted to allow for related circumstances or data.
7. Archaic Unripe or immature.

I didn’t want to get into a side argument on this, but speaking differently to different people is in no way hypocritical or wrong or even difficult.

Everyone does it. Everyone SHOULD do it, in the sense that we communicate differently to different people. In general, I’m not talking profanity here, although I hope soldiers and sailors don’t use their “work” language around their kids. Just as I didn’t use newsroom language around mine.

When I was a kid, I used to notice myself sliding into different accents depending on to whom I was speaking. I said something about that to my mother once when I was a teenager and she disapproved, saying that was somehow an indication of false character or something.

But it wasn’t, not for me. My mother has a strong Southern accent, and for her to speak any other way WOULD be an affectation, and false.

But I had grown up all over the place, speaking two languages, and speaking English in a variety of settings where people spoke very differently. I didn’t have a strong accent of any kind after I was about six years old (up to that point, I had lived mostly in SC — a few months in New Jersey did away with that). So speaking this way or that way was all the same to me. It was like a chameleon taking on the color of his background. There was no right, true, authentic way of speaking that was the real me.

As I grew older, I became less adept at accents, and more likely to speak the same way all the time. And all these years in SC (and Tennessee before that) have sort of flavored my speech with Southern patterns again. But I still notice myself going more or less that way depending on whom I am speaking to. It’s sort of unconscious. But no particular pattern is the genuine one to any great degree.

Another way of looking at it: I’ve spent most of my life supervising other people. One of the myths of the workplace is that a boss should treat every subordinate in exactly the same manner. I learned failure quickly how stupid that was. Everyone is motivated differently, responds to different tones and approaches. So I spoke to people differently. The point is to treat everyone fairly, not everyone the same.

I could go on, and probably will, after you respond. But to me, the profanity question is simply a small subset of a much larger area of human interaction.

Crude language means language that refers to slang for copulatory or excretory functions or related body parts not used to describe same. I suppose even if it used to describe the functions,the use of slang terms is crude. See also, “obscenity,” “vulgarity.”

Profanity is “taking the Lord’s name in vain” and the like. Somehow that feels more acceptable to my age group–the younger Boomers.I mean, “damn” just doesn’t raise many eyebrows any more, does it?

However much I may or may not agree with Brown’s sentiments, I’m compelled to agree with Brad. Civility isn’t dead – or at least it shouldn’t be in our elected officials.

But, more than that, let’s remember that underneath this are real problems that need to be addressed by our elected officials.

This isn’t leadership – not by any stretch of the imagination.

What’s been done here? Widening the chasm between the legislature and the Governor? What good does that do?

This was the political equivalent of a fart joke and it’s been rewarded with headlines and ‘attaboys’. It makes me sad. This sort of sophomoric humor belongs on a script for Jon Stewart, not on the tongues of elected officials speaking to otherwise respectable newspapers.

Sorry to perpetuate the side argument, Brad, but you are absolutely right. It was always interesting to sneak up behind my dad, who was raised by an English teacher and had a masters degree in history, in the tobacco warehouse he ran in Pamplico during the 1980’s. I’d hear a hundred “ain’ts” and an impressive variety of subject-verb disagreements and more than a little profanity –until he realized I was standing behind him. Then he cleaned it up. It was appropriate for his audience, but it wasn’t appropriate for everyone.

And Micah — I’m with you. This is fun, but there’s a truth underlying it that is much more important.